the dirty dozen & organic

Can I just admit that I used to be one of those folks, that was like buy organic?! Why buy organic!? 
haha, and now I'm here reading up about organic and non-organic, and changing my mind that there is a place and an extremely good reason for organic.


I'm learning so much about the food industry and what happens to our food. Most things people don't even know about, but I want to be aware of what's going on with my food, and what I'm feeding my entire body. We constantly bombard our bodies of processed foods, chemicals and additives that we don't even understand or could comprehend. Even taking the little step of buying certain foods organic can help us, on our journey to eating cleaner.

So here are a couple of things about organic, that you may or may not have known before:

• The USDA says there are three types of organic:
• 100% Organic - only contains organic ingredients, and does not have any antibiotics, hormones, genetic engineering, radiation, or synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, 
• Organic - contains 95% organic ingredients with the rest coming from the approved national list. 
• Made from Organic Ingredients - must be made with at least 70% organic ingredients, three of which must be listed on the package, and the rest of the ingredients must be on the National list .
• Buy these fruits and veggies organic. When you eat these veggies and fruits dirty your consuming approximately 47-67 pesticides per serving. ( This is the updated 2013 list by the EWG, with two additional veggies that have an overload of pesticides.)
• These fruits and veggies were washed before being analyzed and chosen as the dirty dozen+. So it goes to show that you can't merely wash off pesticides.

• Keep in mind the clean 15, which are the fruits & veggies with the lowest pesticides. And I love that avocados and asparagus are on this list, cause they are my faves! 

• Mix it up. It can be daunting to buy completely organic, and tight on your wallet too, so mix it up by buying the dirty dozen + organic, and purchase other fruits and veggies non-organic. 
• At the time, there isn't enough research to determine the affects of ingesting too much pesticides. However, I think anything that chemically touches our food is bound to affect us negatively. There have been studies linking pesticides with children with ADHD, as well as parkinson's disease and a whole slew of diseases.

I'm slowly moving towards more organic. I know that organic tastes better since my uncle has a mini garden and his tomatoes are the best I've ever had in mah life, no pesticides or nothing. Eventually in the future, I will also like a garden of my own. And I feel that the world is going to have more of an interest in gardening than ever before, as more people are learning more about what is going on with our food. And I'm kind of excited about it. :) 

Do you buy organic? If yes, why? 

I'd love to hear from you!

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